The Feline Thread

[jacqui]

Awww sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet ;D

[aeromanda]

I got my kitties an early Christmas present. It is an automatic laser (automatic in that it stands on it's own and you don't have to hold it).
www.amazon.com/FroliCat-BOLT-Interactive-Laser-Pet/dp/B0021L8W6K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324498063&sr=8-1
They seem to really like it. Binky chased the "magic red dot" all over the place. Valmont chased it for a brief time and then figured out where it was coming from and just kinda stared at the base that holds the laser. But occasionally he was distracted by the red light again and raced around the floor. I think it was a good purchase.

[SiljeMari]

We know who owned him before, and they brought him home once to give him another try, but after a few hours he managed to escape and came back to us. Then my mom decided to keep him, and the previous owners said it was okay It don't seem that they care so much about him any more anyway.. They have a dog and another cat who is very dominating, and that's the reason why he left them I think.

Yes, Vivienne, he is a Norwegian Forest cat

I took this photo of him today, out in the snow:


And of his daughter Monsi, who found a pile of my mother's curtains to sleep in yesterday:


She has her father's eyes, that's for sure!

[aeromanda]

My kitty Hemmie seemed a bit out of sorts. He was sleeping a lot, he wasn't following me around, and he wasn't begging for food like he usually does. So yesterday I took him to the vet even though I thought that perhaps I was being a bit paranoid. Well, I wasn't. He had a fever of 105.7F (normal for a cat is around 100 - 101F). The vet said that Hemmie sounded congested and that he has an upper respiratory infection. They decided to keep him over night. This morning when they checked him they saw that he hadn't eaten any of his food and his temperature had gone up to 106.9! They switched him to a different antibiotic and gave him some antiinflamitories and by this afternoon his temperature was back to normal and they said he was being playful. They're gonna keep him in the hospital for one more night just to make sure that his temperature stays down. Hopefully, he'll be able to come home tomorrow. For a while I was super stressed over this and very worried. Hemmie is my little baby and I adore him. I feel better now that he is doing better.

[devil-may-care]

Thank goodness you were on top of things with Hemmie. And good that the vet is on the ball as well. I'm so happy that he's doing better. Hope he can come home soon. Wouldn't want him to miss his first festive Christmas! ;D

[aeromanda]

Thanks DMC but it is looking like he may be in the hospital for his first Christmas. When I talked to the vet this morning he said that when they checked on him this morning he was playful, but he had spiked another high fever. (106) They tested him for more diseases and they were all negative. The vet said it could still be a virus called PPI but he doesn't think it is likely. Which is good because PPI is fatal. So at this point the vet isn't quite sure what is going on. They are monitoring him now. If his fever drops this afternoon they may send him home. I'm a bit worried though because we are supposed to go up to my mother-in-law's tonight for Christmas and not be home until Sunday night. Which would mean that we would be leaving Hemmie alone over night. I don't really want to do that. I may just ask them to keep him until Monday just so that he'll have someone to look in on him before Sunday.

[devil-may-care]

Aw... poor little guy. I hope they can find out what's going on and the right medication. I don't blame you on wanting them to keep him until Monday. I'd be worried sick if I had to leave one of my guys over night like that. Not knowing.
You can have a Christmas Day for him when he comes home! ;D ;D

[eolise]

Aeromanda, my thoughts are with you... Hope Hemmie is going to feel better soon.

[aeromanda]

Thanks guys. I'm sick to my stomach with worry about him.

[eolise]

Have you still not heard anything of the vet??

[meimichan]

Oh I missed the pics of your new kitty siljemari. What a gorgeous guy!

Aeromanda, keep us posted on Hemmie's progress. Poor little guy...hope he's all right.

[aeromanda]

Hemmie is home. He is doing better than he was in the hospital in that he is eating. Also, he is less depressed and is following me around the house a little bit. But other than that he isn't doing so great. Although not all the tests indicate it, the vet's best guess is that Hemmie has FIP which is a mutated form of the corona virus and is fatal. There is no test for FIP but you can test for the presence of the corona virus, which will be present even if it has mutated into FIP. Hemmie's test was positive. That, combined with the fever that we can not seem to break, leads the vet to conclude that it is FIP. When we went to the hospital yesterday the vet said that if Hemmie wasn't better today we should bring him back and put him down. When I talked with the vet this morning he said that he is of the opinion that we are fighting a losing battle. I told him that I understand that but we wanted to give Hemmie at least until tomorrow. The vet understood.
I discussed it with Russ and we have decided that so long as Hemmie is eating and keeping hydrated and (most importantly) seems to be relatively comfortable and not in pain we will keep treating him in the hopes of giving him more time (we have somewhat resigned ourselves to the fact that we will lose him; that there is only a chance of him getting better if it isn't FIP and the odds are that it is). He may die anyway but our research suggests that with treatment, cats with FIP can have their lives comfortably extended for a few more weeks to a few more months. So we will give him all the time that we can. But of course it is about quality of life not quantity of life. Even though he has only been my baby for two months, I love him more than I can say. This is so very frustrating and has made me very sad.

[devil-may-care]

I am so very sorry to hear the vet's conclusion about Hemmie's condition. I think you're doing the right thing in focusing on his quality of life and giving him as much time as you can.

Life can be so very unfair. My thoughts and prayers are with you, your OH and little Hemmie.

*Massive Hugs*

[meimichan]

I'm so sorry about Hemmie. Hope his last days are good ones. So rotten all around.

[Vivienne]

I hope he lasts as long as possible for both your sakes in his loving environment.

[SiljeMari]

Oh, that was really sad news.. I am so sorry to hear that! He's such a sweet kitty..
But I'm always glad when I hear about people who cares so much about their cats that they are willing to use a lot of time and money to get them well rather than just putting them down at the first signs of illness. There are way too many here in Norway who does that, unfortunately

I will be thinking a lot about you and Hemmie, and I wish you all the best even though it may seem dark.
I'm pretty sure he's had the best two months of his life after he came to you! *hugs*

[pie]

Here's a hug from me too, aeromanda. That's very sad news.

[dit]

I'm greatly saddened by your news, aeromanda, you must be heartbroken. Hang on to that little bit of hope and look after your baby.

[aeromanda]

Thanks so much for the support guys. It means a lot to me! The vet gave me more meds for Hemmie this afternoon. He said we should recheck Hemmie's white cell count at the end of the week. Since I'm having my surgery tomorrow, we decided to make it early next week. He said that if Hemmie is still doing as well as he is now in a week we'll rerun the Carona virus test and make sure it wasn't a false positive. (Fingers crossed!) Hemmie is doing about the same today as he was yesterday although his fever is down a little bit. We do have a little bit of a problem though. Valmont (our other male cat who is just over a year old) loves Hemmie. Since we first brought Hemmie home he and Valmont have been friends and played together. Since Hemmie has been home from the hospital Valmont has wanted to play with him. Valmont lies in wait for Hemmie to walk around the corner or down the hall so that he (Valmont) can ambush him (Hemmie). Normally this wouldn't be a problem but needless to say Hemmie just doesn't feel like playing right now. Valmont just follows Hemmie around trying to entice him to play. I wish I could communicate to him why Hemmie is ignoring him. Although, Valmont has taken to just laying with Hemmie and sometimes grooming him. So maybe he isn't totally ignorant as to what is going on. I just hope that if Hemmie doesn't make it Valmont doesn't take it too hard.

[devil-may-care]

*still keeping those fingers crossed*

Every little bit of good news helps. I feel like cheering for Hemmie! And Valmont is helping his buddy too.
I'm keeping you and your whole family in my thoughts.

Good luck with Hemmie's tests and your surgery.

[aeromanda]

Thanks so much DMC! Your good wishes truly mean a lot to me!

[SiljeMari]

I'll keep my fingers crossed too, and I wish of all my heart that Hemmie will get well!

[aeromanda]

Thanks so much Silje. I'm still in the hospital but my husband said that Hemmie seems a little better today and his temp was down to almost normal this morning. Maybe he will kick this thing after all.

[eolise]

ohhhhh, how wonderful, Aeromanda!! So happy to hear the surgery went well, but mostly that Hemmie is doing a bit better!!

[devil-may-care]

Yea Hemmie! Keep fightin' little guy!! ;D

[jacqui]

yay go hemmie ;D

[Vivienne]

All of you guys hang in there.

[devil-may-care]

My Thorin had to go back to the vet today for an updated shot and some other meds for systemic cistitis. Looks like another few weeks and he will have kicked this.

I immediately popped in James' cd Car Fever, and Thorin stopped crying and wailing. He never made another peep all the way to the vets' and back again. Thank you, James! ;D ;D

[dit]

Funnily enough, I've noticed that spoken voice on the radio/CD seems to quieten travelling cats, though I've never experimented with James' voice.

Aeromanda, I'm glad to hear that Hemmie is a little better, and that things are improving for you too.

I'm a bad cat-mother. My old lady, Chloe, as I've mentioned has liver failure but has been bright, eating and cleaning etc despite weight loss so I've just kept positive with her. A few times over the last few days she's seemed a bit mopey, but I put it down to her eating ferns from a flower display on the coffee table. Then last night (Thursday) she seemed really restless and whined a bit. I suddenly remembered that she made the same noise earlier in the year so I checked her feet, which she usually won't allow me to do. As I suspected, on her front paws the main claw had grown right round and cut into a pad, which was bleeding. I was horrified.

Of course I was on the phone to the vets as soon as they opened today and she was up there being sorted by 11.20am. She now has neat feet, is pumped full of antibiotics and came for a big fuss (after a long sleep) so I'm hoping all will be well - it was the last time this happened. But it doesn't stop me feeling very guilty that I hadn't sussed it before.

[Vivienne]

It sounds like both kitties are getting better always good to hear. I'm not sure about my old man.Time will tell.